DUBLIN Airport staff have called for garda protection after they were allegedly attacked amid major security delays.
Reports of delays at security gates were rampant on social media since last week as travellers faced “nightmare” queues.
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And staff at Dublin Airport have claimed they have been spat on and verbally abused by some angry passengers amid the massive delays.
They also say they want garda protection from those who can’t control their anger after missing a flight.
One worker told the Irish Mirror: “Security staff have been spat at and verbally abused by some angry passengers and some have even been assaulted because of the long queues in T1.”
While another added: “The situation is horrendous; it really is out of order. It has gone on too long at this stage. Staff shortages mean passengers are highly frustrated by the time that they reach security.
“But some behaviour is inexcusable and all passengers need to be warned that airport police can arrest until put them in a holding cell until gardai arrive.”
Meanwhile, Ryanair have urged Eamon Ryan to hold an emergency meeting to address the chaos at Dublin Airport.
The budget airline hit out at the Department of Transportation for rejecting their request to hold a crisis meeting of the National Air Transport Facilitation Committee to come up with solutions ahead of the Easter mid-term break.
A spokesperson for Ryanair said: “Ryanair and other Dublin Airport customers, cannot endure more weekends where thousands of customers suffer queue delays of one or two hours, causing many to miss their scheduled flights.
“The Dept of Transport must take responsibility for helping the Dublin Airport Authority to solve this short-term staffing problem.
“It is unacceptable that the Dept of Transport have declined this request for a meeting when urgent action is required to avoid travel chaos at Dublin Airport over the Easter school holidays.”
CRISIS CALL
They added: “Ryanair calls on Transport Minister Eamon Ryan to take some responsibility for solving this crisis and immediately hold an emergency meeting of NATFAC so that emergency measures can be implemented by the Govt to avoid huge queues and long flight delays over the Easter school holidays.
“There is a major short-term problem with staffing at Dublin Airport, and it is the Minister for Transport’s responsibility to intervene at times of crisis such as this by calling an urgent meeting of NATFAC to agree solutions to what we hope will be these short-term but unacceptable security queues at Dublin Airport.”
It comes as Dublin Airport paused the sale of their new Fast Track Passes “for the time being” due to the long delays.
Many passengers opted for buying a Fast Track Pass costing between €6.99 – €12.99 to avoid missing their flight.
However, this option has been halted in an attempt to “improve the security screening process for all passengers”.
Meanwhile, SIPTU aviation sector organiser Niall Phillips said frustration doesn’t excuse violence, and appealed for travellers to respect staff who are under “extreme pressure”.
He said: “Members have confirmed incidents of alleged pushing and spitting and abuse and other issues.
“Passengers are understandably frustrated, but no level of frustration can excuse this behaviour. This is not the fault of workers.
“It is not clear if these have been isolated incidents or if they are becoming daily occurrences, but shop stewards are holding meetings to find out the issues.”
He added: “There is talk of airport police and even gardai coming in to protect workers, who are under extreme pressure.”
EMERGENCY MEETING NEEDED
And Ryanair along with other airlines have called for the Department of Transport to hold an emergency meeting with the National Air Transport Facilitation Committee amid the crisis.
The Irish airline fear the massive queues will happen again this weekend as well as over next week’s Easter school holidays.
In a statement today, a Ryanair spokesperson said: “We are deeply disappointed the Dept of Transport, who are responsible for Dublin Airport, have rejected the request from Irish airlines to hold an urgent NATFAC meeting.
“Ryanair and other Dublin Airport customers, cannot endure more weekends where thousands of customers suffer queue delays of 1 or 2 hours, causing many to miss their scheduled flights.”
They added: “The Dept of Transport must take responsibility for helping the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) to solve this short-term staffing problem.”
APOLOGY
Meanwhile DAA have apologised to passengers after their travel plans were thrown into chaos.
They blamed the delays on a “log jam” caused by the recruitment and training of new staff following the collapse of international travel during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The firm added that they were taking “immediate action to address the issues”.
Passengers faced major travel disruptions at the airport in recent days due to huge queues at security.
A number of travellers missed flights due to the wait times a security clearance, with some people claiming to have faced waits of 90 minutes.
DAA said they “empathised” with passengers who have missed a flights due to the delays, adding many had “thankfully been able to be accommodated on later flights or have re-booked”.
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